CWT Assists with 5.5 Million Pounds of Butter and Cheese Export Sales

CWT Assists with 5.5 Million Pounds of Butter and Cheese Export Sales

Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 20 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Darigold, Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative, Michigan Milk Producers Association and United Dairymen of Arizona to sell a total of 1,129 metric tons (2.489 million pounds) of Cheddar, Gouda and Monterey Jack cheese and 1,385 metric tons (3.053 million pounds) of butter to customers in Asia, Central America, the Middle East and North Africa. The product will be delivered February through June 2012.

In 2012, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in making export sales of Cheddar, Gouda and Monterey Jack cheese totaling 26.9 million pounds and butter totaling 23 million pounds to 16 countries on four continents.

Assisting CWT members through the Export Assistance program positively impacts producer milk prices in the short-term by reducing inventories that overhang the market and depress cheese and butter prices. In the long-term, CWT’s Export Assistance program helps member cooperatives gain and maintain market share, thus expanding the demand for U.S. dairy products and the farm milk that produces them.

CWT will pay export bonuses to the bidders only when delivery of the product is verified by the submission of the required documentation.

The Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) Export Assistance program is funded by voluntary contributions from dairy cooperatives and individual dairy farmers. The money raised by their investment is being used to strengthen and stabilize the dairy farmers’ milk prices and margins. For more information about CWT, visit www.cwt.coop.